F.O.C. Darley Work at Brandywine River Museum

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“Before Howard Pyle and N.C. Wyeth rose to the height of their profession as illustrators, there was Felix Octavius Carr Darley, whose skill in book and magazine illustration made him one of the most popular artists of his time and earned him a reputation as the Father of American Illustration,” says Audrey Lewis, an associate curator at the Brandywine River Museum in Chadds Ford. Go there to see his work in “The Magic Pencil of the Amazing F.O.C. Darley,” which opens Jan. 19. The self-taught Darley, active till his death in 1888, drew for works by such literary giants as James Fenimore Cooper and Nathanial Hawthorne. He settled in Claymont at a time when his work was so popular, books were advertised as “illustrated by Darley.” Take a look through March 10. (610-388-2700, brandywinemuseum.org)—Mark Nardone